Tag Archives: Cape York

Cape York Days 10 – 14

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From here on our trip back was pretty uneventful.

Day 10. The Falls to Weipa

Weipa is a mining town and really not much else. It’s meant to be fantastic for fishing, however, the prices are also fantastic. So we set up at the Weipa Caravan Park on a non powered site at the waters edge for a couple of days of R&R. Too bad you can’t swim for fear of crocs!

Weipa sunset was brilliant. The colours on this haven't been altered by any enhancing software, this is the actual sky.

Weipa sunset was brilliant. The colours on this haven’t been altered by any enhancing software, this is the actual sky.

Day 11. Rest day at Weipa Rest day at Weipa, lazed around and went to the pub.

Day 12. Weipa to Chili Beach and Archer River Roadhouse

We left Weipa and to the Peninsula Developmental Road and turned off at the iron ranges. We were meant to stay at Chili beach however the campsite wasn’t good for our swag and there was nothing else available. This is a very popular spot, although I can’t see why.

We drove down to Portland Roads Out of The Blue Cafe, had some lovely locally caught seafood and then drove to Archer River Roadhouse.

Dinner was the famous Archer River burger, It is a bit of a legend with the tourists. The burger was $12 and HUGE! YUM!

Day 13. Archer River to Laura

We’re asked to give some of the local aboriginals a jump start in Archer River and saw more broken down on the road before Coen.

At the quarantine station (where we noticed we had a flat tyre) we were asked if we could tow some of the local Aboriginals into Coen as they had run out of fuel. Apparently a local family group was trying to get back up the Cape and drove their cars until they had no more fuel (?!?). We were unable to help as our car is starting to show signs that something may be wrong and we don’t want to risk more damage.

We saw the place where we rolled our car. The road has dried out so much that you would never know that 2 weeks ago that it was more a treacherous slush pool then a road. Along the sides of the road are reminders if you care to look. Deep tyre treads mark the churned edges where the graders haven’t yet been through.

We stayed the night in the back of the pub in Laura.

Day 14. Laura to Cooktown

We drove back to Cooktown and back to our trailer, our Cape York trip came to an end.

Cape York Day 9 – Eliot Falls, Fruit Bat Falls, Saucepan Falls and Twin Falls

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And time to leave the Tip of Australia.

Back through all of the little towns to the Jardine River ferry, back across and we drove down to the falls. We skipped these on the way up because we were bent on getting to the Tip.

First stop was Fruit Bat Falls, the other 3 waterfalls are within walking distance of each other.

Even though we are in winter, it’s really hot and dusty, so a dip in a waterfall was exactly what we needed.

I also had been advised that all of these waterfalls are croc free.

The Tip Fruit Bat Falls_A Girl A 4WD And A Trailer.JPG-2

 

We drove down to Eliot Falls, Twin Falls and Saucepan Falls. This is where the campgrounds are and where were to stay the night. The waterfalls are very popular for people camping and day tripping so the falls were really busy. We had a walk around and a bit of a dip, but decided to come back early in the morning, before all of the people got in, to take pics.

We did however, bump into the 4WD Action crew, Hubby’s idols. We were very luck and were able to get some pics!

The next morning we got up early for some sunrise photos of the falls and were treated to an amazing view of empty waterfalls covered in mist.

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Cape York Camping Punsand Bay

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Campground right on the beach edge. This was a sunrise one morning.

Campground right on the beach edge. This was a sunrise one morning.

Name: Cape York Camping Punsand Bay
Address: Lot 11 Punsand Bay via Bamaga QLD 4876
Contact Details: (07) 4069 1722
Website: http://www.capeyorkcamping.com.au

Background: After a long and tough journey to the Tip of Australia, we decided to stay at Punsand as it seemed to be a popular campground as per the conversations we’d had with fellow travellers on the way. The service was amazing, there was a bar and restaurant with wood fired pizza ovens and the views from our beachfront campground were amazing!

Cost: $15/pp for unpowered site
Facilities:

  • Kitchen / Cooking areas – not really, be prepared to cook at your tent
  • Toilets – yes, not many, but they were clean
  • Showers – yes, not many, but they were clean
  • Good lighting – not so much
  • Laundry – unknown
  • Fitness & Leisure Facilities – there was a pool
  • Security – You’re pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Standard precautions should be taken.
  • Pets Allowed – unsure, ring and ask
  • Fires – yes
  • Noise Levels – fine

Will We Return: absolutely! We will even consider coming back next year to work here next dry season.

Cape York Day 7 – To The Tip

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We had an early morning start and took the ferry over the Jardine River.

Crossing the Jardine River

Crossing the Jardine River

We drove through the little dust blown towns to the Croc Tent. The Croc Tent is at the junction leading up to The Tip. This is where we picked up some souvenirs and information maps of the area.

Just a little further and we made it to the northern most tip of mainland Australia!!!

Not a great picture, but we made it!

Not a great picture, but we made it!

Even though it was a little touch and go at the beginning of the trip, we are very glad that we did continue on. It makes it just that little bit sweeter knowing that against the odds we got there in the end.

Then off to Cape York Camping at Punsand Bay for some R&R.

Cape York – Day 1 & 2 – The Accident

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Day 1 – Cooktown

The drive from Mossman to Cooktown takes about 4 hours through some stunning rainforest and mountain scenery.

While in Cooktown we stayed at Orchid Caravan Park which is located behind Charlotte st (main street), $30/night unpowered. Everything is in walking distance in the main part of town.

We stuck our trailer into storage, we’d decided not to take it to the tip, and walked up the main street, looking at some of the historic buildings and to the wharf.

For lunch we visited the historic Top End Pub for some lovely pizza and cold beers, bliss. It was a real  scorcher in Cooktown and finally the rain has stopped!

Day 2 – Cooktown to Hann River Roadhouse

Pick up last minute groceries from IGA, cash from ANZ or Westpack ATMs, fuel ($1.72), maps, gas, medication e.t.c

Headed north towards Hope Vale and in about 30kms turned left onto Battlecamp Rd.

Our first river crossing was at the Normanby River where we were stuck for 2 hours. The river had risen higher than we were told, a young guy had tried to drive through and had stalled in the middle. Hubby was finally able to use our winch and winched the guy out with the help of a number of visitors who were also stuck on the bank. A tag along tour came through from the other side, the current was flowing with them and they had no problems but still no one from our side was game to try the crossing again. Thankfully the guy we winched out was working in the area and a backhoe was coming to get him across. As a thank you for helping we we’re snatch strapped to the back and followed behind.

Apparently there is a massive croc that lives at this corssing. No one was game to stay in the water when we found that out!

Apparently there is a massive croc that lives at this crossing. No one was game to stay in the water when we found that out!

We had a quick stop off at Old Laura Historic Homestead for some pics. We continued until we reached Peninsula Developmental Road, the road to the tip, we turned right with the plan of stopping at Hann River Roadhouse for the night.

Old Historic Laura Homestead

Old Laura historic homstead

Unfortunately it was between Laura and Hann River that we had our accident.

The roads were wet, slushy and slippery with mud from all of the late rain the area had recently. The mud was so thick that even though we were only going 45kms the ass of our car slid out, the wheels locked up, we slide around and the car tripped on the side and over we went.

It happened in slow motion. Everything loose in the cabin went sideways. Thankfully we had a cargo barrier in and we had our seatbelts on.

Johny yelled “kill the engine” so from my side position I reached up and hit the kill switch.

We were in shock, I kept saying, “we’re ok, we’re ok” over and over and thankfully we were. Johny undid his seatbelt and stood on my window. He pushed up  to open his door and crawled out. Once he was sitting on top he helped me out and I jumped onto the muddy ground, no time for shoes.

We just stood there. I had my camera bag and mobile phone on my lap at the time of the accident and so crawled out of the car with it. No service. I tried 000 and 211, nothing. All we could do was wait for someone to come past.

A lady stopped and gave me a lift to Hann River Roadhouse where I sent some guys out to Johny who stayed with the car. The lady does the trip every week to her husband who is a commercial fisherman in Weipa so she’s basically a local.  She warned us that as it’s a remote area that one of us should stay with the car as there was a good chance it would be gone when we got back if we didn’t stay with it.

Thankfully once the car was back on all 4 wheels it was still driving so Johny drove back to Hann River Roadhouse to take stock of the damage.

The accident had caused our roof rack and tent to snap off the roof, so with our accommodation on the ground we stayed at Hann River Roadhouse in a donga overnight.

The car the day after. The perspex window covers smashed, the front panel under the snorkel is pushed in and so was my car door, it only opened half way until we popped it back in. The roof rack is gone and the side light popped out.

The car the day after. The perspex window covers smashed, the front panel under the snorkel is pushed in and so was my car door, it only opened half way until we popped it back in. The roof rack is gone and the side light popped out.